Woodley explains why life was a little bit better before becoming champ
Tyron Woodley: “At the end of the day, if I worried about what the fans said, I wouldn’t be in this position right now.”
After narrowly defeating Stephen Thompson in the main event of UFC 209, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley made a startling admission.
When I talk about carrying my shield and going into battle, and I think about all the distractions, all the ways out, all the people that want to see me lose, it’s a lot of pressure, said Woodley, as transcribed by Fernanda Prates and John Morgan for MMAjunkie. People don’t understand that – you think you got [the belt] and your life is changed. To be honest, my life was a little bit better before I had the belt.
Woodley has said frankly that he feels the UFC does not promote him as they are able to, and that race plays a role.
I just think that it’s a lot of pressure as a champion. You’ve got to separate yourself. You want to be the best in the world. You want to wear the gold. It comes with a lot. It comes with a lot on your platter. It comes with a lot of expectations, a lot of obligations. And I feel at a certain level you have a duty, and I feel like part of the time my duty is to, you know, be honest, and if I see something that’s incorrect, speak on it.
If I see something that’s right, congratulate that as well. And in our society, everyone doesn’t like to hear the truth all the time. And when you speak the truth sometimes, people are either sensitive or insensitive and, as we all know, I see all you guys quiet, don’t want to ask me the wrong questions. Sometimes I get a little bit of a bad rep for just speaking up on things I think are true.
I think the fans are human, and they have their own mind. If someone doesn’t like a person because of their skin color – it doesn’t matter if you fight or you deliver mail – they’re going to have that opinion. … I don’t say MMA fans are racist at all; what I said is that fans are opinionated, especially because we’re the only professional sport to give them that access. So these people already have these ideas in their mind.
The fans can also tap in, I’ll pause the fight, they can enter the cage, I’ll exit the cage, and they can show me how to do it better. At the end of the day, if I worried about what the fans said, I wouldn’t be in this position right now. I love the fans. They make our sport. They make the UFC what it is, but I’m the person that’s in there fighting, and this is the toughest division in the world.